So who had one of these?

jonomc4

I was just thinking back to my old bike back in the 70's - I remember having one of these clicking the miles away for me.

Either that or me sitting in my room spinning it around to increase my miles (what we had to do as kids before internet pron was invented). If only I had the sense to just buy a bike with smaller wheels!

capt_slog

Yes, I remember those, I think I must have had one in the 70's

There was also some sort of speedo you could get, it must have been cable driven and was too expensive for the youngster I was then.

thecrofter

I saved up and got a cable driven speedo. It only went up to 40mph and I remember bouncing the needle off the stop on the hill down into Aberdour, must've only been 14.



That's the type of thing.....ahhhh, happy days

veronese68

I had a cable driven speedo. I also remember trying to see how fast I could get.
I have no idea if that's what caused the accident that put me in hospital when I was 12 as I still don't remember anything about it. All I can tell you is that reports state that I didn't make the corner at the bottom of a big hill on my 2 day old 10 speed racer. I don't even remember being given the bike. First thing I remember is waking up in the hospital with my dad on a camp bed beside me and asking where I was.

Anonymous

I had a clicky milometer mounted and also had the big ever-ready lights mounted front and back on my Grifter, you know the big square ones that took 2 HP2 batteries :shock:

DavidBelcher

dmclite-2.0 wrote:

I had a clicky milometer mounted and also had the big ever-ready lights mounted front and back on my Grifter, you know the big square ones that took 2 HP2 batteries :shock:

I was high-tech right from the off, my first ever bike speedo was a Cateye computer - forget the exact model but it was a lot chunkier than modern ones!! I did have a set of old-school lamps that took huge batteries though - hard now to imagine that there was a time before those wonderful rear red LED lights.

David

pdstsp

Had the lights and the milometer - seem to remember the front lamp gave off about half a candle of light. Also had suicide levers on the brakes

capt_slog

This is the bike light I used to have



Everyone had the same as I recall, and everyone took the guts out each day when they left their bike at school. This was 70-77 for me.

The bane of my cycling in those days was fcuking mudguards. They were made of thin plastic and slotted onto long steel stays (about 3mm diameter) and you were ALWAYS adjusting the buggers to stop the wheel rubbing against them.

giant_man

thecrofter wrote:

I saved up and got a cable driven speedo. It only went up to 40mph and I remember bouncing the needle off the stop on the hill down into Aberdour, must've only been 14.



That's the type of thing.....ahhhh, happy days

yeah I had one of these on my raleigh chopper, no really ...

jonomc4

Capt Slog wrote:

This is the bike light I used to have



Everyone had the same as I recall, and everyone took the guts out each day when they left their bike at school. This was 70-77 for me.

Yep had one of those lights too at the back - used to use it in my room at night as well - thought it was dead cool red lights like in a submarine (didn't know of the red light district in those days - oh the innocence of youth).

jonomc4

and a front light like this one (on the right)



Even when I was 9 in the 70's I thought it was naff - and it always rusted quick!

The alternative was some awful light that powered by rubbing a wheel off the front tire - doubled the effort to pedal and made an awful noise!

I think a few of my friends had the cable driven speedo (black round dial and an orange speed indicator) I was never flash enough for one of them.

Gizmodo

This thread has made me smile - click milo-meter check, front and rear lights check

Also 6 inch mudguards that did feck all to keep you dry but looked cool


And a rain cape that didn't keep you dry because the spray off the front wheel was inside the cape and the mudguards were useless


Oh and bread bags over your socks to keep your feet dry

postman

Those big silver lamps were standard issue to all delivery Postmen Back in the 70's and 80's.They bring back some memories.

Cleat Eastwood

Capt Slog wrote:

This is the bike light I used to have



Everyone had the same as I recall, and everyone took the guts out each day when they left their bike at school. This was 70-77 for me.

The bane of my cycling in those days was fcuking mudguards. They were made of thin plastic and slotted onto long steel stays (about 3mm diameter) and you were ALWAYS adjusting the buggers to stop the wheel rubbing against them.

haha I remember that. I also had a light that you turned on by turning a little screw top that was on it.

veronese68

Capt Slog wrote:

This is the bike light I used to have



Everyone had the same as I recall, and everyone took the guts out each day when they left their bike at school. This was 70-77 for me.

I bought an old shitter bike for the Mrs to ride to the station about a month ago and it still had one of those fitted. Not surprisingly the batteries were dead.

plowmar

Well I hope you got your money back.

Yep I had both mileometer and lights three white either side of front forks and two red (at back) those were the days didn't worry about weight reduction then.

Scrumple

thecrofter wrote:

I saved up and got a cable driven speedo. It only went up to 40mph and I remember bouncing the needle off the stop on the hill down into Aberdour, must've only been 14.



That's the type of thing.....ahhhh, happy days

Mine was like technology from the future, on my bikes. I lost track of the integral handlebar stems I snapped doing "ramps".

redvee

I had both speedos/mileometers and can remember maxxing out the cable one at 35mph, a feat which I haven't been able to match on the same stretch of road since. Was the cable speedo set wrong or more modern computers inaccurate?

verylonglegs

redvee wrote:

I had both speedos/mileometers and can remember maxxing out the cable one at 35mph, a feat which I haven't been able to match on the same stretch of road since. Was the cable speedo set wrong or more modern computers inaccurate?

You are old now

me-109

Clicky mileometer - check.
Cable speedo - check.
Short mudguards - check.
Cape - check.
Postie's front lamp - check.
Plastic HP2 front and rear lights - check.
What about canvas saddlebags - anyone else used to have them?

redvee

verylonglegs wrote:

You are old now

Guilty

jonomc4

Gizmodo wrote:

This thread has made me smile - click milo-meter check, front and rear lights check

Also 6 inch mudguards that did feck all to keep you dry but looked cool


And a rain cape that didn't keep you dry because the spray off the front wheel was inside the cape and the mudguards were useless


Oh and bread bags over your socks to keep your feet dry

Wow you were flash - I dreamed of those short mudgards - damn I dreamed of anything that would make my orange and white 3 speed bike look slightly cool.

I also did the bread bags over the socks and inside the shoes - I have considered doing it again in the past few months (but M and S bags) when I have forgotten my overshoes!

jonomc4

This is the dynamo light I was trying to think of!

Lordy - these must weight as much a my current bike in total!

Bluegnu

Hehe...

Dynamo light - yup,
Clicky milometer - yup
Cable Speedo - yup
A crash whilst watching said speedo - yup, straight into the back of a parked car. I seem to remember I was doing a whole 16 miles per hour too!

ariege_cyclist

The next hi tech move in mileometers was this from Huret, driven by a little rubber band.

I remember upgrading to this and being happy that the little metal prong on the spoke was no longer needed and so stopped wearing a groove in my fork!!

priory

I've still got a couple of pairs of pifco lights if anyone wants to relive the good old days when you had to memorise the shape of the road back from the pub.